The diversity and wealth of information available via the internet makes it a highly desirable medium to access. In general, a graphical user interface (“GUI”) is utilized to access internet content (e.g., text, audio, images, files, etc.). The most common GUI used to access internet content today is a browser e.g., NETSCAPE NAVIGATOR, MICROSOFT INTERNET EXPLORER, etc. operating on a personal computer (“PC”). Much of the internet content is accessible as or via HTML-based (Hypertext Markup Language) Web pages. In order to access or process this content, a user generally uses a PC e.g., an APPLE MACINTOSH computer or a computer utilizing a MICROSOFT WINDOWS operating system. Web pages often have some form of user-selectable icons or links (e.g., button, fingernail image, etc.) that allow the user to view or access a referenced (or linked) Web page, image, or some other form of content.
A link may be processed in a variety of ways. For example, a new Web page may be generated, content may be printed or stored, audio content may be played, video content may be displayed, etc. The active Web page is defined as the Web page in which a pointer (e.g., a computer mouse pointer) is currently located.
Typically, when a link is selected while viewing a first Web page, the browser replaces the first Web page with the Web page referenced in the link. For example, if a user is viewing a main (or Home) Web page with links to auxiliary Web pages, and the user selects a link for one of the auxiliary Web page, the browser will display the auxiliary Web page. If the user then wishes to view the Home page again, the user will typically select the “back” icon. Additionally, if the user wishes to view a second auxiliary Web page, the user will typically go back to the Home page to select the link to the second auxiliary Web page. Utilizing this procedure, navigating Web pages may be quite time consuming. Moreover, it may be difficult to compare content of multiple Web pages in this manner. For users with slow internet connections, this method of internet navigation may be particularly frustrating because, to view multiple links, the user may waste time waiting for one link to download before being able to begin downloading the next link. Additionally, for users paying for time connected to the internet, downloading one Web page, viewing that page, navigating back, viewing a next page, etc. may waste time, and thus money. Moreover, traditional methods of Web navigation may be frustrating to users with fast internet connections because finding and selecting individual links may be the most time consuming part of Web browsing.